Lionhead & conti giant.

[MiaLouise26]

Hiya! So I bought two females- a lionhead and a conti giant, a few months ago.
Took my lionhead to the vets the other day, for a pre-spay appt and they won’t do it, they think she is around 3 weeks pregnant!
I am terrified. This means that the conti giant isn’t female at all! And is the dad!

Will my lionhead survive the birth? She’s my best friend and I can’t loose her! Please help me ?

[Sirius&Luna]

This is why bunnies should always be separated until they are spayed and neutered, regardless of sex. They are often sexed incorrectly, and they are also likely to fight. Please ensure that they are separated from now on, at all times. Rabbits can get pregnant again immediately after giving birth.

As for the safety of her giving birth, that is something that you need to ask the vet. It’s quite dangerous for young rabbits to give birth anyway, so perhaps an immediate spay would be the best solution. I suggest looking for a vet that is specialised in rabbits, as many vets don’t know enough about rabbits to give good advice or successfully spay.

[Bam]

I’m sorry this happened. Young rabbits are notoriously difficult to sex correctly and thus often sexed wrong, even vets can get it wrong sometimes.

Your doe is likely to survive, but there are of course never any guarantees. The size difference between the rabbits shouldnt matter, just like it doesn’t matter when a small breed dog gets pregnant with a large breed dog. A young rabbit mum can sometimes be not so good at caring for her babies though, so you may have to help her with that.

As S&L says, an emergency spay could be an option, although I dont know if it’s safe to do when the fetuses are already 21 days. The full gestation period is 30-32 days. This must of course be discussed with you vet to weigh the pros and cons.

Here’s a bit of info about pregnant rabbits:
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Pregnant_rabbits

[jerseygirl]

Do you know how old the rabbits are? You got them as babies or was their age unknown.

Also, Im curious as to how the vet established the lionhead is 3 weeks pregnant.

[Taloan7]

I don’t know how it works with rabbits, but I used to work with a vet and we once had a case where a tiny dog got impregnated by a large dog and the puppy did end up being too large to deliver. The puppy didn’t make it and we ended up having to do a c section to save the mother. Not trying to be a fear mongerer, but I would definitely be cautious and keep a close eye on things when it gets close to the due date and be ready to go to the vet if anything seemed to be going wrong.

[Bam]

You really need to discuss this with your vet. Are they rabbit savvy? Not all vets are, since rabbits are classified as exotic animals, and cats and dog vets as a rule dont have that specialization.

[Author]

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